ISBN 9780977742936, 128 pages, 20 images, 5 maps. Pub date: October 2008

“The whole world,” said Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, “revolves around New York, especially my world.” True to his word, Ellington painted a musical landscape that looks just like the city itself: sophisticated, intriguing, vital, and unperturbedly cool.

This fascinating and revealing book explores the relationship between the musician and the city, charting their fluctuating fortunes through much of the turbulent but remarkably creative twentieth century. From pool halls to speakeasies, from the Cotton Club to Carnegie Hall, the book traces Ellington’s path to the top of a city where jazz became the soundtrack for life. As it does so, Duke Ellington’s New York places Ellington’s story within the broader context of the African American struggle for recognition and the evolution of a quintessentially American art form.

With maps to guide urban adventurers and a story to rivet armchair travelers, Duke Ellington’s New York explores the city from Harlem to Greenwich Village, visiting the bars, clubs, and concert halls where this giant of jazz pushed back the boundaries of music.

Elizabeth Ferber spent more than two decades working as a writer in New York City. She also worked at WKCR, the Columbia University radio station renown for its jazz programming, where she immersed herself in jazz history, lore, and music.

Available in October

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